Keep the Fire Silent
by CASE iN POiNT
Summary: Shikamaru has to live with Ino for a while. What a drag, right? Actually, they get pretty close, too close, and find a passion that they hide in daylight and explore at night. The challenge now is how to make it real and how to make it last... [ShikaIno]
1. This is just the prologue

**Disclaimage: I don't own Naruto, of course. And now that I have already embarrassingly admitted it, I shouldn't have to do so for the whole rest of the story.**_  
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_**keep the fire silent  
-an Shikamaru and Ino story-**  
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_-prologue-_

_Shikamaru smelled smoke._

_His eyes opened but he was still blind. His vision slowly adjusted to his dark, dark room. There was that smoke smell again. It was everywhere. There was lots of it._

_Grumbling, he swung himself out of bed with an effort, bracing himself for feet hitting a cold, cold floor. Except the floor wasn't as cold as he thought it would be. It was actually kind of warm._

_Shikamaru padded over barefoot to his closed bedroom door. His arm and hand reached out in the dark toward the doorknob. And then the door flew open from the other side, almost whacking him backward across his room._

_That certainly woke him up. "Shit! What the hell?" he yelled. He found that he was trembling all over. Something was not right in the world. The smell of smoke was over-powering._

"_Shikamaru, Shikamaru!" Someone was screaming. Someone with a familiar voice. Shikamaru stumbled forward and then suddenly got seized by the shoulders and shaken violently. It was his father and his father was screaming._

"_What? What?" Shikamaru felt annoyance. Annoyance at his hysterical father and at the stifling smoke. "What the hell is all this—"_

"_We have to get out! The house is on fire!"_

_Then Shikamaru heard it. The crackling and the roaring, the flames eating his house even though he couldn't even see them yet. He could feel it. The heat and the fear and the panic. He could see it. The flickering shadows and the orange against the walls of the hallway. The walls of the hallway, Shikamaru remembered, were usually white._

_Everything else that night was hazy just like the smoke that tried to swallow him whole. Somehow he had put on his shoes, thrown on a jacket, and grabbed his regular clothes. Then he was charging through his house that was slowly becoming a large furnace. He got out, then his dad got out and in a couple of hours, their house had burned to the ground._

_Shikamaru watched as firefighters hosed and hosed and hosed. He sighed._

_Good night._

_--_

"_That's awful," Ino's father was saying as he finished off his tea in one gulp. Then, his big hands reached out to the carton of wooden chopsticks between him and Shikamaru's father, selected one, and broke it crisply into two._

"_Tell me about it. This is such a drag." After finished his sentence, Shikamaru's father stuffed his mouth full of ramen._

_Shikamaru stood just inside the circle of light made by the open-late ramen shop. He didn't know how the two men could still eat a hearty meal at this time of night, but they were and he had decided not to join them._

_The night was eerily quiet. After his house had made a considerable ruckus and his neighbors had all woken up to look at the scene, the silence had come back thicker than ever. But the silence was comforting. Shikamaru liked silence._

_Maybe it was because he liked it so much that he heard the passing footfalls. He could tell by the sound that the passing person was making an effort to be silent, but was doing a really bad job. Usually, Shikamaru would have just let the individual pass, but tonight he felt mischievousness creeping into his late night spirit._

"_Hey. Hey you, out there," he said. The footfalls stopped and there was a scraping sound as a foot was probably pivoted on the ground to face his voice. "Yeah, that's right. You there. Show yourself."_

_He knew that he was just asking for trouble. And with his luck so far tonight, he might just get it. But on the other hand, the poor guy's house had just burned down. Shikamaru figured he had a right to find somebody—a stranger, no less—to vent all his controlled anger on. He wasn't worried about the danger. In his current extremely pissed off at the world state, he could have taken on the Hokage._

_And won._

_Shikamaru was just tossing around the idea of saying something mean and biting to provoke the hidden guy when the guy himself ran into full view. Shikamaru saw a glimpse of orange clothing and blonde spiky hair, and he knew immediately that this individual was not, unfortunately, somebody he could vent on._

"_Hey, Shikamaru! Boy, am I glad to see you. Do you have any idea what kind of creeps wander the streets at this time of night? Geez…"_

"_Yeah, you're one of them. Why the hell are you up and out so late, Naruto?"_

_The boy in the vibrant orange jacket and pants came to a complete standstill in front of Shikamaru and scratched the back of his head. "Hehe, that's a funny story. I couldn't sleep, I guess. I was getting restless."_

_Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "And what's so funny about those two sentences? I would hardly qualify them as a 'story.'"_

_Naruto was shaking. But it was barely detectable. So undetectable, in fact, that Shikamaru missed it completely in the dim light. But if he had seen it, he would have realized that Naruto was awfully nervous at the moment and getting more anxious by the second. "Well," Naruto started, thinking on his feet, "I guess I find it funny because I have a big day of training ahead of me tomorrow and I can't sleep or rest for it at all, even though I should. Haha, isn't that ironic?"_

_Silence._

_Shikamaru gave Naruto an almost pitiful look. "No."_

"_Oh," Naruto said, seeming to take it in stride. "Oh well. What are _you_ doing out here at the this time of night?"_

"_Oh, I'm just with the parental unit. My dad wanted to come outside and have a late night…snack." Shikamaru gestured to the ramen shop behind him._

"_Hee hee hee, sounds like a good idea!" Naruto cackled, rubbing his hands in front of him in a way that even made Shikamaru believe that a huge bowl of ramen was sitting in front of him, waiting to be devoured by the hyper one. But then Naruto's face changed from laughter to seriousness in a blink of an eye. "But no, really, what are you doing out here so late?"_

"_Whoa…" Shikamaru couldn't help but utter, taken aback by the abruptness. Naruto was certainly an interesting character. "My house burned down, okay? Don't get a heart attack."_

"_WHA? YOUR HOUSE BURNED DOWN!"_

_Shikamaru rolled his eyes and sighed. "I told you not to get a heart attack."_

"_IT BURNED DOWN?!?!"_

"_Yeah…"_

"_You mean ALL OF IT is GONE?"_

"_That's the general deal, yea—"_

"_Oh my gosh, I am SO SORRY!"_

_Shikamaru found that odd. He tilted his head at the ninja in front of him. Naruto looked back with a sympathy stricken face. "Yeah, I'm sure you are," Shikamaru said slowly, trying to find something hidden in Naruto's facial expression, but he gave up after a couple seconds of hard concentration. "Well, listen, you better go and sleep and I'll go and try to sleep as well. Train hard tomorrow, okay?"_

"_All righty!" Naruto said, snapping into his peppy self again. "You bet I will!"_

_There was a whoosh of air and Naruto was gone. Shikamaru sighed and shook his head. It was when he was shaking his head that he realized that he really was sleepy. As he walked back to the ramen shop, he could feel himself dozing off on his feet._

"_Come on, dad," he said as soon as he pushed apart the cloth curtain. "Hurry up and finish so we can find somewhere to sleep…on the street."_

"_I'm trying to enjoy my meal here. Could you try to not make me so depressed over ramen?"_

_Shikamaru rolled his eyes at his father's back. "Terribly sorry to ruin happy hour, but I'm just trying to be realistic."_

"_Well, how about you—"_

"_Why don't you both stay at my house for a while? You know, until things get settled and you find someplace else to live."_

"_Your house?" Shikamaru and his father asked at the same time in amazement._

_--_

_Ino was having a very nice sleep. Her bed was soft. Her pillow was plumped. Her hair was out of its usual restraints and made almost a blonde halo around her head. She slid one of her hands underneath the pillow and then turned to her left, sighing a little in her sleep._

_Through her hazy consciousness came sound. Thumping. Small scuffing on wooden floor. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly. The thumping was quite incessant. But it probably was just her father, coming back home from having a late night walk or snack. Yeah, that was it. She had heard him leave._

_Ino turned back the other way, onto her other side, and slid pleasantly back to dreamland._

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**A/N:** **This, of course, is just the prologue. So hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter up soon. I know it's kind of all mysterious and vague right now, but it'll get better, I promise.**

**Now, this story will have HEAVY stuff, hence the T rating. And the rating might even go up later, if I think it is too much. So, just be sure that you're okay with reading that kind of stuff. I know you might be thinking, "Whatever. Why is she even worrying over that?" But, you know, I can never be sure. Better safe than sorry. That kind of thing.**

**Anyway, I hope it has caught your attention. I hope you enjoyed it. c:**

**Feedback is appreciated.**

**And until next time...!  
**


	2. Starts out easy, something simple

**A/N: Now that the story has _really_ started, I should tell you some background info.**

**I've been really racking my brain to try to think of when exactly this story takes place. I know that all of the characters are around 17 or so, but a lot of the stuff that actually happened in the manga doesn't happen in my story (for example, Sasuke and Asuma are still around). So, I guess this story will just have to be part of a completely contrived plot line, in relation to the bigger picture. I'm sorry if some of you do not like that, but that's how it has to be. Unless you want to give me more headaches.**

**In any case, I hope you don't worry about chronology too much and just let the flow of the story sweep you up and carry you away...**

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-one-  
_Starts out easy, something simple, something sleezy..._

Ino yawned in silence and opened her eyes. Morning. Her favorite time of day. Everything was fresh in the morning. Everything hinted at something great that could happen.

Of course, nothing great ever did happen.

But Ino was content, because the morning was her time. In the morning, her mom and dad were still asleep and the house was silent. In the morning, she could stretch and watch TV or even pole dance (not that they had a random pole in their house) if she wanted to without being seen.

Yes, morning was a good time in life. Ino threw back her blanket and got up, searching with her toes for her piggy slippers that Sakura had gotten her one year for a joke. Yeah, some joke.

She found them, finally, by looking with her eyes. She placed her feet in them, stood up, and stretched. The small white T-shirt she always wore to sleep rode up on her stomach. She sighed and pulled it back down again to the waistband of her baby blue shorts when she had thoroughly stretched herself silly.

She had no idea what she was going to do this morning. She thought about it as she rummaged through the clothes piled haphazardly on a nearby chair. She found what she had been looking for: a bright magenta blanket; she draped it over her shoulders as she yawned again. I didn't matter what she did. It just mattered that it was morning and morning felt good.

Ino had perfected the art of opening the door to her room without making a sound. She did so now, and crept out into the hallway, listening to the silence. Until she realized it wasn't complete silence. Then she frowned and glanced to her left further down the hallway.

There was a dull buzzing sound coming from behind the closed door of the bathroom. A sound of someone taking a shower.

Clutching the blanket tighter around her body, she tiptoed toward the bathroom. The fact that someone had pervaded her morning silence pissed her off. This, she knew, was going to be a bad day because of this.

Right when she got to the closed door, she heard the water turn off. She held her breath and stopped where she was, straining her ears to hear through walls. The floor creaked as the someone probably stepped out of the shower, but there was no other giveaway sounds. Ino sighed and blew at the strand of hair that always was in front of her eyes. She leaned against the wall and waited.

And all the while she belittled the person probably getting dressed right now.

_But seriously, though. Don't they know that morning is MY TIME? They always take showers AFTER. That's how it goes!_

After what seemed like an hour later, she finally heard the doorknob pop, the sound that meant it had been turned from the other side and now it was unlocked. Ino pushed off from the wall and starting taking a deep breath, fully intent on lecturing her mom…or dad. How dare they…

The door opened, and out stepped Nara Shikamaru.

Ino's eyes nearly popped out of her head.

"Oh, hi Ino," he said, scratching his still wet head of hair in awkwardness and embarrassment. "What a surprise to see you here." He clutched the towel that was draped over his shoulders tighter around his body.

"SHIKAMARU?!" Ino almost screamed in shock. "What are you DOING HERE?"

"Well, I…"

"You're IN MY HOUSE! What are you doing in my house? In the MORNING? How did you get in my house? You pervert! GET OUTTA MY HOUSE!"

Shikamaru sighed. He could feel the stirrings of anger start at the bottom of his stomach. _Oh man, I knew this was a bad idea._ "Look, Ino, just let me explain…" he started, waving his hands around to get her screaming head's attention. But it wasn't the hands that did it. It was his bare chest.

"_AND_ YOU DON'T HAVE A SHIRT ON??? _OH MY GOD._ Get out! Get out! GET OUT! DADDD!"

"Ino!" Shikamaru hissed, trying to get his teammate to shut up. "Oh man…"

Ino wasn't waiting for her dad to help her, although she was thoroughly convinced that he would once he caught sight of a shirtless Shikamaru in his house where his daughter also, coincidentally, resided. The next thing Shikamaru knew, he was being wheeled toward the front door.

"Ino, what are you…?"

"Get out and never sneak back into my house AGAIN!" And with that, Shikamaru got pushed out of the house of Yamanaka Ino. Without his shirt on.

"What a drag…"

"Ino, what do you think you are doing?" Ino's father finally made his appearance after Ino had closed the front door and locked it securely. Ino frowned at him.

"Thanks a lot for backing me up, DAD," Ino snapped at him. "Shikamaru had been taking a shower IN OUR HOUSE. And since you didn't come out in time to help me throw him out, I did it myself. And now, I'm going to go to bed and mope all day because my day's just been…" Ino's exaggerations were interrupted by her puzzled father.

"Wait, sweetheart, you threw Nara Shikamaru out?"

Ino exhaled impatiently. "Yes. I did. Your daughter _is_ capable of physical aggressiveness, as she _is_ a Leaf Village chunin…"

And her father started to laugh. Like, really laugh. It started nice and manageable and turned into a loud chuckle and then a full out fit of guffaws. Ino looked at her father in confusion, one eyebrow raised and the other deeply furrowed.

"Dad, are you drunk?"

"No, and I'm not hung over either," her father managed to squeeze out in between laughs. Ino looked at him witheringly.

"Well, thanks for clarifying. I was oh-so worried."

"Sweetheart, didn't you know that Nara Shikamaru and his father are going to be staying with us for a while?" her father finally said after he had regained the ability to breathe air. He was still wiping his eyes though.

"Wait, what?" Ino asked, her mind finally taking her father seriously.

"Oh yeah, their house burned down just last night and I went out to see how they were. And I guess I just decided to invite them to live with us, spur of the moment!"

Ino was blank. And shocked.

"So I think," her father said, this time wheeling Ino toward the front door, "you should open that door and say welcome home to your buddy Shikamaru."

Ino opened the door. Ino looked at Shikamaru who was still standing miserably on her doorstep, clutching his towel. Ino watched as he looked up at her. And Ino said, just like a robot, "Welcome home."

She didn't remember if Shikamaru said anything back to her. She was still in too much shock.

--

"So it's really true that your house burned down?" Ino asked as she leaned against the checkout counter at her parents' flower shop. Her elbows were on the counter top and her chin was resting in her cupped hands.

"Yep," Shikamaru said it as a fact. He had just come in a few minutes before after his training session with Asuma-sensei and his face was still glistening with sweat.

"Wow, that sucks," Ino said, picking at her nails. "I can't imagine what it must be like."

"It isn't all that special," Shikamaru said. He was sitting on the floor on the other side of the checkout counter, his back leaning against the wood. He leaned his head against the wood as well. There was a slow spinning fan above them that was slowly cooling off his face. He closed his eyes.

"Yeah, but still, all your stuff is gone."

"I guess."

"Don't you miss _any_ of your stuff?"

"I didn't have anything that was important."

"Oh."

Tired of standing up, Ino pulled a nearby stool over to the counter and sat on it. It was just the right height for her to be able to lay her arms and head on the countertop and not have to strain herself doing it. In the thick silence and comfortable warmth of the flower shop, she started to slowly fall asleep…

"INO!"

Ino sat up with a start, fully awake. She tottered dangerously on her stool as she tried to shake sleep from her system. "H-How may I help you?" she blurted out automatically, trying to cover up her embarrassing moment.

Then she heard familiar laughter and she didn't feel too keen on apologizing anymore.

"What do you want, _Sakura_?" Ino spat out the girl's name.

Sakura was still trying to control her giggling fit. "Ah, that was priceless. Both you and Shikamaru jumped at the same time." Sakura wiped her eyes and shifted a basket she was carrying from one arm to the other. "So, what are you two doing here, _anyway_?" Sakura asked, making it sound like she had stumbled upon something scandalous. Ino sighed. She and Shikamaru had just fallen asleep at the same place and the same time. What was so scandalous about that?

"What do you want?" Ino asked in an exasperated tone. She propped her chin back up with an elbow on the counter. Then she yawned, bored already with her "customer."

Sakura finally dropped the teasing act. "My mom wants flower arrangements. Lots of them." She sighed, as if this was a terribly large burden. It was going to be a heavy one, certainly, if her mother really did need "lots of them." Sakura reached into a cloth bag she had slung across her body and pulled out a small white piece of paper that Ino guessed was a list. "She wants ones that match the kitchen, the dining room, the living room, and the downstairs bathroom."

Ino raised an eyebrow. "And what color would these happen to be?"

"Light green, golden honey yellow, baby blue, and light brown," Sakura recited, adding, "respectively," at the end as an afterthought. She finally looked up from her list to see Ino's amazed and amused face.

"And what is this for?" Ino asked.

Sakura sighed again. Another large burden. "A very large and obnoxious dinner party where she wants to impress all her friends. And which I can't get out of."

"Bummer," Shikamaru commented. Sakura nodded her head in a tragic way and then her face grew stern and bossy.

"So, are you going to help me pick out flowers and arrange them, or what?" Sakura demanded of Ino. "I have a very tight schedule today."

"Fine," Ino relented, standing up and smoothing out her purple skirt. As she stood up, Shikamaru stood up as well, surprisingly. Ino walked around the counter toward Sakura and gave Shikamaru a teasing smile. "What, are you going to help me arrange flowers?"

Shikamaru scowled at her. "I'm heading back to the house," he said in his traditional lazy way, avoiding Ino's question. "I'll see you there?"

Ino opened her mouth to say, "Okay," but Sakura beat her to words. "Wait a minute. 'The house?' What are you talking about? And how come you," –she pointed at Ino when she said this— "are going to see him there?"

Uh-oh. Sakura had _that_ look on her face. Ino's mind calculated. If she lied to Sakura now but got discovered later, it would be worse than just telling her straight off. But if Ino told straight off, the rumors would only get started sooner.

But the rumors wouldn't be as serious, because early rumors are always the ones that people laugh at and dismiss for petty jokes.

Having made up her mind, Ino opened her mouth to speak again and _again_ was beaten to it.

"What's it to you?" Shikamaru drawled at Sakura. He looked over at her with narrow eyes and dared her to pursue the topic. Ino felt like running to the nearest wall and bashing her head into it. Now Sakura was going to be more adamant about it than ever. But instead of head banging, Ino used that head to make a mental note to kill Shikamaru when she got home.

Oh, and guess what? Sakura dared.

"Ino happens to be my friend, Shikamaru. I would like to know what is going on in her life. And besides, I'm curious." She smiled sweetly at him and his scowl darkened.

"I'm assuming that you mean_ homicidal_ friends?" Shikamaru countered and before the situation could get any worse, Ino stepped in.

"Sakura, why don't we start with those flower arrangements? You did say that you have a tight schedule."

"Have fun at your party," Shikamaru said to Sakura as he walked out the door. Sakura made a face at his retreating back.

Ino braced herself, closing her eyes and planting her feet. This was not going to be a pretty hour or so. In terms of conversation with Sakura, at least.

As soon as Shikamaru was out of sight, Sakura let Ino have it, starting with the typical first question right on cue: "So what is going on between you two?"

"I think for the light green room, we should start out with some goldband lilies, shouldn't we?"

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**A/N:**** Poor Ino. I was feeling very sorry for her as I wrote this chapter. Haha.**

**So, I'll keep this note short. Feedback would be much appreciated and I thank all the people that reviewed the short prologue. I hope you enjoyed it and will continue reading. Thank you so much _for_ reading it.**

**And until next time...!!**

**(Happy New Year! Get those resolutions resolute!) **


	3. It goes one by one, even two by two

-two-  
_It goes one by one, even two by two..._

"Uhh, I hate you so much for leaving me with Sakura."

Shikamaru's lips curved slightly in a smile. "What's wrong? I thought you guys were _best buds_."

"I'm not friends with people who are delusional. She happens to fall under that category. Where are we going?"

Shikamaru did not answer; he just kept walking, hands in his pockets, eyes straight ahead. Ino rolled her eyes and walked beside him, not pursuing the question.

The sun was slowly starting to set and Konoha was cast in a lovely golden glow. Shikamaru loved this time of day the most. The late afternoon light made everything richer and more beautiful than it actually was. It hinted of a hidden world that was better than the one he was living in now. He always made sure he was outside when this time of day came around. And if he wasn't outside during the late afternoon, he would be sitting inside, sulking his head off.

He wasn't used to sharing his late afternoons with people other than himself. He usually liked being alone and the quiet calm it brought. But today, he let Ino tag along, telling himself that he wouldn't have been able to shake her off anyway.

It was hard to believe that he hadn't walked along this familiar road for almost an entire day. He felt like he was greeting an old friend as he walked, acknowledging the familiar trees, rocks, bushes, and flowers with his eyes. It had just been a day since the fire. But he felt like it had been ages ago since he last saw his house, still standing.

"Oh…oh, Shikamaru. I'm so sorry…"

Still a pile of ashes on the sorry, blackened ground.

Shikamaru did not hesitate. He stepped right into the charred ruins and started to walk farther into it. Ino did hesitate. She wavered at the edge, watching as he walked away from her. She wondered if it was her place to join him. She did not have the right to join him, certainly, but she wanted to be there, in case he needed comforting.

Shikamaru? Need comforting? Who was she kidding?

She did end up stepping into the ashes, though, because Shikamaru had found something largely still in intact and was staring at it, unmoving. Curiosity overcame Ino's indecision and propelled her forward.

Shikamaru had found a silver picture frame. The top and right side of the frame was twisted from heat and the glass had cracked in about a million places, but it was more together than anything else in the area. Shikamaru brushed imagery dust from the cracked glass and squinted at the picture within, as if he genuinely didn't know what it was.

They were all smiling. All three of them. Even little boy Shikamaru. He was in the center. His father was on his right and his mother was on his left. They were standing in front of the very house that had just burned down last night. It seemed that the day they took the picture had been a beautiful one. Shikamaru blinked his eyes rapidly, sensing that Ino was coming near him.

Things had changed since that picture. Changed a lot. His mother was long gone, now, dead from disease. And his house was gone.

But this picture had survived both. This was what he had come to the house for. To look for this. And it was amazing to him that he had actually managed to find it. Some dumb luck.

It almost made Shikamaru want to cry. Almost.

Ino had taken one look over Shikamaru's shoulder at the picture frame he was holding and covered her mouth with one hand. She could feel tears starting to pool in her eyes. Trust her, Miss Drama Queen, to get emotional at a time when she wished she could have been strong for the teammate standing next to her. It wasn't even her place to cry. She had no right. Why did she even come? She had no right to do anything on this trip.

"Let's go," Shikamaru said firmly, turning and starting to walk back to the main road. Ino was startled at his abruptness, but followed him obediently. She was glad to leave the place heavy with solemn memories. Her eyes stayed on the broken picture frame that Shikamaru had clutched in his hand by his side. The sunlight glinted off the distorted silver.

_She probably knows I lied to her by now about not having anything important. Whatever. I don't give a crap._

--

"Oh, _Shikaku!_ THAT WAS A GOOD ONE!" Ino's father roared heartily from across the table. Shikamaru sighed distastefully as his father agreed loudly and nearly knocked Shikamaru off his chair as he leaned in violently to slap a high five across the table. Shikamaru then groaned audibly and promptly slid out of his chair. If this was how it was going to be every dinner, he might as well go shoot himself right now.

He then noticed someone was missing from the table. There was Ino's father and mother, his father, himself (although technically he wasn't_ at_ the table anymore)…and where the hell was Ino?

_She escaped already? Without telling me? Man, I'm gonna kill her…_

Shikamaru hesitated. Maybe he should say something to tell them that he was excusing himself. Another round of raucous laughter rose from the dinner table, and he decided to forget manners. Ino, obviously, had been smart and done so long ago.

_So, where could she have gone?_ Normally Shikamaru was completely fine being alone. But, since he was going to be living with her for god knows how long, might as well go and be friendly.

Shikamaru trudged up the stairs after making a brief sweep of the empty living room. He knocked on her room's closed door but nobody answered. The bathroom door was open, so she couldn't be in there. Deciding that he had made enough effort for today, he sighed tiredly and headed for the room that was now his, shoving the half open door more open with a shoulder.

He froze. Ino's head snapped up from bending over something.

"What are you doing?" he asked warily. _What the _hell_ are you doing in my room?_

"Nothing," Ino said innocently. He could now see that there was one ear bud in her right ear that had a white cord snaking down to his…

"You have Teddy Geiger on your iPod?" she asked, holding up the electronic device with a smile. Shikamaru groaned inwardly. _Great. Just perfect._

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me to delete it," he said, sitting down on the edge of his bed and watching as Ino's finger made circles on the iPod wheel. "_Why_ were you looking through my stuff?"

"I wasn't _looking_ through your stuff," she clarified, not even looking up at him. "I walked into your room and your iPod _happened_ to be lying on your bed."

"And why were you walking into my room?" _God, she is so damn annoying!_

"You have _Rihanna_ on here? Oh this is just too much!" Ino started to giggle and Shikamaru heard the slight buzzing of a steady bass as she selected a song. He rolled his eyes and stuck a hand in his pocket.

"Oh, yeah? Well, at least I don't have Hilary Duff," he said, pulling something out of his pocket and waving it slightly in the air. Ino looked up and her face went from amused to surprised. He was taunting her own iPod at her face.

"HEY!" she exclaimed, reaching for it. Shikamaru pulled it back out of her reach. "Since when did _you_ start sneaking around in _my_ room?"

"I wasn't _sneaking_ around," Shikamaru said simply. "I walked into your room and your iPod _happened_ to be lying on your desk."

"You jerk!" she accused, crawling forward to try and reclaim her possession. He pulled it out of her reach again.

"I want mine first," he demanded, holding out his other hand.

Ino sighed loudly. "Fine," she said, pulling the ear bud out of her ear and handing the whole thing over to Shikamaru. Shikamaru then handed her back her own iPod and she clutched it possessively. In seconds she had unraveled the earphones from around the body of her iPod and had plugged them into her ears, her index finger going around and around to find something to listen to.

Shikamaru watched her for a second, then shrugged to himself, putting ear buds into his own ears. Might as well join her in the music world. Join her? Yeah right. Fat chance he was going to listen to Hilary Duff.

They sat there for a long time, in collective silence and individual noise. It felt to Shikamaru like it had been hours when his father finally stuck his head through the door and saw the two of them just sitting there next to each other. Ino then left for her own room after that, and Shikamaru couldn't help but feel a little bit lonely when she was gone.

--

Shikamaru's body was tense. He was waiting. Waiting. Waiting…

_Just attack already, Ino._

The breeze rustled the trees and bushes around him. It made him a little nervous, as it screwed with his straining ears. He had been hoping that she would make a sound when she started to attack so he could tell where she was coming from. But apparently nature was against him today.

He hated being out in the open. It took all his effort, practically, just to stay put in the middle of the clearing and not run for the cover of the nearby trees. First off, his shadow was miserably small, as it was nearing midday. And second off, the heat was making everything hazy. Standing in direct sunlight did fry your brain cells, apparently.

"Come on, come on," he muttered through gritted teeth, standing absolutely still. She sure was taking her sweet time. He was starting to regret training with her. Usually he didn't do one-on-one training with anybody, but she had begged him, so what the hell. He'd decided to give it a try. Who would have thought it was so damn taxing on the nerves…

"Think fast!" shouted her voice from behind him. He turned immediately and saw a kunai flying straight for his face. He dodged easily, feet scraping little dust clouds into existence and a smile forming on his lips. If this was all she was going to do, this was going to be too easy…

"Gotcha!" she said from directly behind him. He froze, feeling a sharp point digging into his back. _What the…?_ "Shikamaru, you really suck at defending yourself from multiple attackers. I made a clone. Geez, for a genius, you sure are dumb."

It was true, he did need work on defense from multiple attackers. And it was also true that he needed to practice using more than just his shadow possession jutsus to fight. But, honestly, she was pushing it. Just a little.

"I'm not dumb, _Ino_," he said, spinning around and grabbing the kunai she had been holding against his back. His hand completely enveloped hers around the hilt of the knife and she scowled.

"You still suck," she said, slipping her hand from his grasp. "Let's go again."

"Again? Come _on_," Shikamaru complained. "We've been at this all morning and half the time you don't even attack. I'm just standing here, baking in the sun."

"I'm trying to build up the pressure," she protested. _You're doing a good job,_ Shikamaru admitted grudgingly.

"Well, I'm hungry. I'm going to town to go eat," Shikamaru stated firmly, turning and starting to walk away. Ino pouted but then trotted up next to him as they exited the clearing.

--

"Come on, Ino, hurry it up a little, would you?" Shikamaru asked, leaning heavily on his hand that was propped up by an elbow on the table. His ramen bowl was already empty, with just an oily soup and sauce mixture remaining. Ino's bowl, however, was practically still halfway full.

Ino didn't like being rushed when eating. She bit into a mouthful of noodles and then made a face at her teammate sitting beside her. He rolled his eyes. "Very attractive," he commented.

"I know," she said, chewing and swallowing her ramen and then clicking her chopsticks together to scoop up some more. "I'm a slow eater, okay? So chill out. You were the one that wanted to get food and so now you're paying the price." _In more ways than one,_ she thought with a mental grin.

_Tell me about it,_ Shikamaru grumbled to himself.

A couple minutes passed by with the only sound being the clamor of the cooks of the shop and Ino's steady slurping. Then Shikamaru heard two sets of footsteps stop behind him and Ino. He turned to look over his shoulder, curious.

"Hey, look who we ran into, Neji," Tenten said with a grin, sitting down on the stool next to Ino. Ino looked up with a bunch of noodles still in the process of being sucked into her mouth. She gave Tenten a small wave as she continued to devour her ramen.

Neji looked at Shikamaru and Shikamaru looked at Neji. They both nodded at each other in greeting. Ino watched the exchange with amused eyes. _The traditional manly exchange. No words, just nods. How idiotic._

"So what are you guys up to?" Tenten inquired casually, giving the menu a once over as Neji sat down on the other side of her.

Ino swallowed her food before she spoke. "We trained for a while. How about you two?"

Tenten smiled. "Same. It's a hot day, huh?"

See, Ino liked Tenten. Tenten was the kind of girl that wouldn't take the sight of a boy and a girl together the wrong way. She understood the value of being close friends with a guy, as her best friend was pretty much the Hyuuga sitting next to her. She wasn't like _Sakura_, Miss Let's-Over-Analyze-Every-Little-Thing.

"Tell me about it," Ino agreed, fishing around for the last of her noodles. She had heard a rumor somewhere that Tenten was crushing on the prodigy, but, hey, it was only a rumor. She had probably heard it from Sakura, no less. And anything heard from Sakura was always worth questioning.

_Finally, she's done,_ Shikamaru was thinking, while Tenten and Ino were having their little conversation. _Now we can leave this shop and go far away from this Hyuuga guy. He always gives me the creeps…_

"Hey, I know," Tenten remarked after she had ordered her ramen and was waiting for it to come. "Why don't the two of you join the two of us for a training session? We could have, like, a two-on-two or something."

Ino thought it over while Shikamaru furiously sent her mental messages to turn the offer down. The last thing he needed was to have to _fight_ that Hyuuga guy. Ino, however, was mulling it over in earnest and when she opened her mouth, her response wasn't exactly what Shikamaru had had in mind.

"That's a great idea!" she declared, clasping her hands together in a manner that suggested she was delighted. _Oh, just perfect,_ Shikamaru groaned inwardly. _Now I'll just be lucky to get home in one piece…oh wait, home? What home?_ "Don't you think that's a great idea, Shikamaru? We were getting bored training by ourselves anyway, so what could possibly be better than training with them?"

_I could think of many things…_

"Yeah…that's a, uh, _great_ idea."

Shikamaru turned to look the other way and scowled. _The things I do for this girl…_

* * *

**A/N: So. There's that. I've decided to name the chapters from a line of a song that has something to do with the scene/story/chapter. It's kind of weird, but I just wanted to do something unique. Maybe when this thing gets long, you can click on the chapter drop down menu and kind of see a little poem made up of lines from whole bunches of different songs. I wonder how that will turn out. Haha. And I think you should try to guess what song I got my one line from. Just to make things fun.**

**Oh, and the other thing I wanted to talk about was iPods. Obviously, they don't have any in _reality_ but screw reality for this story, okay? You basically already did with disregarding the whole original plotline. So just stretch it a little more for me. Humor me.**

**Thank you so much for my fabulous readers and reviewers. Feedback is always appreciated, certainly this early on into a story. c:**

**Until NEXT TIME!**


	4. Teach me heartache, stop this burning

-three-  
_Teach me heartache, stop this burning..._

"We fight all out," Tenten explained. The two teams of two were standing, facing each other in the center of a clearing they had picked. It was slightly bigger than the one that Ino and Shikamaru had been in.

"Good; so do we," Ino said, nodding. _No we don't. _She slid Shikamaru a discreet glance. As usual, his face was indifferent to everything that was going on. He was wearing his signature look of boredom and then he sighed. Ino's eyes rolled to look at the blue, blue sky above. _What have I gotten myself into?_

"Okay then," Tenten said resolutely, shifting her feet a little. The scraping sound was loud in the silence. "Let's begin."

Immediately, all four ninjas withdrew into the cover of the trees on the edge of the oval shaped clearing.

"Okay, Shikamaru. What's the plan?" Ino hissed to her teammate.

"Huh? What?" was his intelligent response. She felt like hitting her head against something solid again, like she did at the flower shop. Why was it that Shikamaru could invoke this kind of feeling in her? Did that say something about his character, perhaps?

"A plan, Shikamaru. We need a _plan_."

Shikamaru's face crumpled into a concentrated frown. "I'm thinking, I'm thinking."

"Well, think faster," Ino whispered emphatically, peering through the leaves of the tree she was perched in. And while she hid in the tree branches, she thought through the situation herself.

_So one is great at long range attacks and one can basically see through everything you are about to pull. Great. Fabulous. My best bet would be to go after Tenten (big surprise there) and get her with my mind transfer. Then I could use her to attack Neji. Neji would never dare to attack her body, even though I'm controlling it._

_So, now the problem is…how to get her to stand still…_

_No time to worry about that now._ Ino's heart rate went up dramatically as she saw hundreds of kunai heading right toward them from the other side of the clearing. _Damn Neji and his byakugan,_ she cursed as she immediately slid down the tree's trunk and stuck herself to the side of it. She could feel the tree shake as kunai hit it hard on the other side. Leaves dropped all around her as the kunai flew through the canopy. Shikamaru slid down beside her, brows furrowed deeply.

"I don't know, Ino. They're pretty good…"

"And that means…?"

Shikamaru sighed and leaned his head back against the trunk of his tree. "We're probably gonna lose this thing. And bad."

"Great."

Suddenly, a yell sounded from awfully close by. Ino flinched and caught movement out of the corner of her eye. _Hey look, its Tenten. TENTEN?!_ Ino spun away from the tree trunk as Tenten came flying at her, a kunai sinking into the tree where Ino's head had been. _Whew, that was close._ Tenten didn't stop though. She pulled it out and charged Ino again. Ino decided the best thing in this case was to block and back up.

So she did. She reversed into the clearing, where she'd have more room to move and dodge. She was doing a good job at not getting stabbed too, until Neji appeared in the corner of her eye. Ino risked a glance backwards and found he was right behind her, waiting. And she was backing right into him.

_So, they're trying to pick off the weak one first, eh?_ Ino thought grimly. _I have to get out from between them…_

She was saved the trouble when Tenten's attack came to an abrupt halt. Her eyes widened as she realized what had happened. Which was the same time when Ino realized what had happened. _Thank you, Shikamaru_, she thought, immediately running out from between Neji and Tenten. As she had expected, there was a dark black shadow stretched over the ground, running from Tenten's feet into the trees where Shikamaru was hiding.

Shikamaru turned Tenten to face Ino and Ino brought her chakra to her fingertips, starting with handsigns to her jutsu. All this took a couple of seconds. Then she started her mind transfer jutsu and at the same time, Shikamaru released Tenten, rushing forward to Ino's side. He got there just as Ino started to crumple to the floor and Tenten's body jerked with a start.

Shikamaru didn't hold Ino's limp body in his arms, like Neji thought he would. Shikamaru instead stepped around the body of his teammate and performed his shadow possession. Neji let him catch him, waiting for what he would do next.

Tenten, with Ino's spirit inside of her, reached into her leg pouch and took out a kunai. Spinning it once, she then chucked it at the immobilized Neji.

Shikamaru watched the kunai fly through the air, eyes narrowing as he concentrated…

Just before the kunai would pierce Neji's skin, Shikamaru released him from the shadow possession. He knew that if he had kept him in the jutsu, they both would have felt the stabbing pain of the kunai. Neji, to his credit, didn't panic. He whipped out a hand, as quick as lightning, and caught the kunai coming at him. The tip of the knife pricked his arm the tiniest bit.

_Show off,_ Shikamaru thought, scowling. Then he turned around to scoop up Ino lying on the ground.

Tenten threw two more kunai at Neji. Neji was unfazed. He dodged one and caught the other; then fluidly threw the two kunai in hand at Shikamaru's back. Just as Ino had expected, he didn't dare attack Tenten's body, but as she turned to look at her teammate, he didn't seem to realize that there were two kunai baring down on his back.

_Release!_ Ino's spirit sped toward her own body. If she could make it in time, she just might be able to get him out of the way. Behind her, Tenten's body slumped a little and Tenten, back in her right mind, groaned at her newfound headache.

Ino slipped into her own body and immediately grabbed hold of Shikamaru's shoulders. "What the…" Shikamaru started to say, but Ino didn't let him or her headache get in the way. She yanked him to the side and toward the ground, hoping they could duck underneath the kunai.

No. Such. Luck.

With their faces so close together, Ino could see the slight widening of Shikamaru's eyes as one of the two flying kunai scraped across his back, cutting through his clothes to the skin. His grip on her slackened, but Ino's grip on him tightened. "Shikamaru, are you okay?" she asked in a breathless whisper. He barely managed to nod.

"I'm…fine," he forced out in a strained voice. "Just a scratch."

"You guys okay?" Tenten called from where she stood, still massaging her temples with her fingers. This headache was killer.

_Yeah,_ Ino thought._ Just a scratch._

Not.

--

"This is definitely not just a scratch," Ino said as she dipped her index finger into a little container of healing ointment. The _scratch_ on Shikamaru's back wasn't deep but it was a long diagonal stripe of livid red. The bleeding had stopped for the most part after a long time of sponging with water, but the injury still looked painful enough.

"You think I don't know?" Shikamaru said, wincing as the ointment was rubbed on his injury. "God, that stings."

"Sorry. Want me to blow on it?"

"What?"

The situation was already awkward enough. Even Shikamaru could see that. He was naked to the waist and lying on his stomach on a couch in Ino's living room, getting doctored by the girl he was currently living with.

And she had just offered to blow on his back.

Hmm…

Ino knew her face was bright red. There was nothing embarrassing about this moment…or so she convinced herself to believe. It was just…this moment was so…weird. And from an outside perspective, it was downright…_wrong_.

Kind of.

Ino let herself briefly imagine Sakura's reaction if she walked through the front door right now.

Not too pretty.

And she had just offered to blow on his back.

_I am such a moron._ "Blowing on it sometimes lessens the stinging."

"Oh. Um, okay then."

Ino rubbed her finger in the ointment again and then reached to rub it on the next segment of the gash. As she did, she leaned forward and blew gently on the area. She could feel his muscles, first tense in trying to handle the pain, start to relax as she blew. Ino smiled slightly, then leaned back to get some more ointment.

"You're going to use up this whole thing."

"Sorry," Shikamaru mumbled.

Ino smiled wider. "That's okay. I'm pretty sure my mom has a ton in the medicine cabinet. She's always afraid I'm going to come home one day a bleeding mess."

"It's a legitimate worry," Shikamaru commented flatly.

"Yeah, I guess." Ino straightened back up and dug her fingers into the very corners of the container. "Yep, this one's gone. Stay here while I get another one."

"Where can I possibly go?"

Ino smiled as she walked out of the room. "Hmm…good point." Then she rounded the corner and leaned against the wall.

Her hands were shaking. She closed her eyes and forced herself to take deep, controlled breaths. This was bad. This only happened when she really liked a guy. It had happened whenever she had had a prolonged conversation with Sasuke. At those moments, she could barely talk without choking on her own spit. But that was Sasuke. Everyone liked Sasuke. He was hot, mysterious, dark, and cool.

And Shikamaru? In comparison?

Uh…Shikamaru was smart. And…that was pretty much all he had going for him.

Ino forced herself to screw the cap of the ointment container back on and then pushed off of the wall. She walked slowly to the bathroom, thinking thoroughly.

Shikamaru had always just been a friend. A really close friend. He never was much of a conversationalist, but his presence was always comforting, even if he didn't say anything and wasn't aware of it. However, he had never been more than just a friend. For Ino, Sasuke was always the impossible love interest and Shikamaru was always the best friend. And that was that. Period.

Until now. When things were screwing up inside her brain.

Ino got to the bathroom. She threw the empty ointment container into the trash and then walked to the medicine cabinet. She opened it and found her guess about her mother to be correct. There was a whole shelf dedicated to the healing ointment. Ino dug one out, closed the cabinet door, and then started back toward the living room.

A place she suddenly was dreading and yearning to go.

Then there was what other people would say. Shikamaru was quiet, thoughtful, intelligent, and liked to be by himself. Ino was loud, rash, not as intelligent, and starved for company. They might say something like opposites attract.

But more likely than not, they would be saying, "Why the hell does she like him?"

Because nobody would see it coming. Nobody _could_ see it coming. It would be about as expected as Sakura suddenly announcing her engagement to Naruto. It just wouldn't happen. The thought of the two of them together wasn't even an existing idea.

Then again, Ino had never liked her dependence on what other people said about her and her life and her thoughts and her desires and her love interests. She was always trying to not be controlled by the gossip and to just let her heart take her to where it willed.

And what better time to start than now?

How about…uh, never?

When Ino finally walked back into the living room, Shikamaru had moved. She stopped, surprised. Shikamaru was meeting her gaze steadily, sitting up right on the couch. "What took you so long?" he said indifferently, as if the question was just a mere pleasantry.

"Why are you sitting up? I haven't finished rubbing ointment on your whole cut yet."

"I felt like sitting up." Shikamaru's lips were starting to curve in a defiant smile.

Ino rolled her eyes. In her current confused state of mind, she wasn't in the mood for resistance. "Well, lay back down. It'll only take a second longer and then you can sit up as much as you like."

Shikamaru didn't move. "Really? Only a second?"

Ino sighed. "You know what I mean."

"Should I count?" Shikamaru asked, continuing his stupid joke. _What a time to get a sense of humor,_ Ino thought grimly.

"Come on, Shikamaru. I'm really not in the mood to be confrontational."

"Okay, okay," Shikamaru said, slowly laying himself back on his stomach. Ino sat beside him again and started to rub the new ointment on his gash. The ointment was powerful stuff. On the parts that Ino had already applied it, the gash looked immensely better. Ino tried to block everything out of her mind, just concentrating on the ointment and the application of it. When she was done, she screwed the cap of the container back on and got up.

"All done. Told you it wouldn't take long."

"It was more than a second though," Shikamaru pointed out.

"I'm terribly sorry," Ino apologized sarcastically. "I hope I didn't waste too much of your precious time."

"You would have if there was anything to do around here." He sighed and his eyes moved to stare at the ceiling.

Ino bent down to grab the TV remote and then she threw it at his stomach. "You can watch television. I'll be in my room."

"I bet there's nothing on," Ino heard him say as she started to walk back to the bathroom to put the ointment away.

"How tragic," she called over her shoulder.

* * *

**A/N: Updates are erratic, I know, but I'm doing the best I can. Right now I've hit huge writer's block on this story and another story I'm working on, but I'm addicted to writing my forcoming NejiTen story. -sigh- Hopefully I'll get over the blocks and start writing this story again.**

**Thank you to my rockin' reviewers. Hopefully you'll forgive me for being so bad at updating regularly. I have to take the SATs soon, so I'll be studying for that a lot soon.**

**Feedback's always welcome. Thanks for reading.**

**Until next time, then...**


	5. If I lay here, would you lie with me?

-four-  
_If I just lay here, would you lie with me and just forget the world?_

Ino was having trouble keeping her eyes open. Music was streaming into her ears very loudly and yet she was still falling asleep. The training must have taken a bigger toll on her than she thought. Lucky for her that she didn't have to man the flower shop today. So she was off the hook for a little nap…

What was she talking about, off the hook for a little nap? She had mental things to sort through, to analyze. Not overanalyze, of course. Not like Sakura. Never like Sakura…

Did she or did she not like Nara Shikamaru? Now that was a good question. One that could use an answer. One that she wanted an answer to. But unfortunately, it was too complicated. For an half-asleep Ino, of course it was too complicated.

Shikamaru, Sasuke. What's the stupid difference?

She drifted off to sleep in a cloud of confusion.

--

"Hey, Ino, where do you keep the…" Shikamaru stopped talking when he noticed that the person he was talking to was fast asleep, curled up on her bed with her iPod on and going strong. He could hear the faint sound of cymbals crashing from her ear buds.

He debated what to do. He could just close the door softly and let her sleep, which was the easiest course of action, as he hadn't fully even come into her room yet. Technically, he was still standing outside of it and he had just poked his head in.

Or he could sit down next to her and keep her company and not feel so damn lonely himself. He could suddenly feel the tiredness creep into his system. The training must have taken a bigger toll on him than he thought.

He decided the debate was over. He went to his room, got his iPod, and then trod back to Ino's room, where he crawled onto her bed and leaned against the wall, stuffing his ears with the earphones. Then he sighed and closed his eyes. He had been going to ask Ino where they kept the food in this house, but since she was asleep and he was starting to get tired and lazy, eating could wait until later.

He let loud rock fill his ears while at the same time he reached over Ino's body and turned her iPod off. She wasn't listening to it anyway. Might as well not have her waste her eardrums.

Shikamaru thought about things. The things had happened recently. His house burned down. He still wondered why and how. But that was a useless train of thought. He'd never find that out unless he really made an effort, and making an effort was not something he was known for.

And then he came to temporarily reside here, although it already felt like he'd lived here forever (except for the fact that he didn't know where the food was). And then there was Ino. The loudmouth teammate that suddenly didn't seem so bad once you got to know her. And Shikamaru didn't know if he actually _knew_ her yet. But it sure felt like it.

The tiredness gripped Shikamaru tighter, clouding over his precise thought processes. He struggled to keep his eyes open, to stay awake. He tried to shake himself mentally but instead found himself sliding down the wall to his right side. Then his head hit the nice and soft bed and his eyes closed as if lying down was the trigger.

_Man, this could be very bad if she—anyone—found me like this,_ was his last conscious thought. He didn't put much effort into making sense of it either. He just let himself sleep.

A little nap couldn't hurt.

--

Ino didn't know what exactly woke her up, but wake up she did. Her eyes opened and she knew immediately that something was different. Her eyes traveled to the iPod lying next to her. The screen was black. It was turned off even though the ear buds were still in her ears. That meant she had fallen asleep listening to it. But how did it get turned off?

She rolled onto her back and nearly rolled over the body lying next to her. _What the…?_ She turned her head and saw Shikamaru sleeping soundly next to her, music still blaring into his ear from his iPod that was still on. She turned it off, doing him the same favor that he had done for her, and then just looked at him for a while. She had never seen him so peaceful and relaxed. Well, maybe she'd seem him this relaxed before, him being a lazy bum and all. But peaceful was a different story.

She got up slowly, careful not to disturbing him, and slid carefully from her bed, not wanting the absence of her weight to wake him up. Then she tiptoed out of the room, closing the door behind her, and plodded to the kitchen, yawning.

That nap had been really refreshing. She smiled as she padded barefoot onto the cold kitchen tile to the row of cabinets above the countertop. She opened the third one from the left and pulled out a box of crackers. Then she hoisted herself up to sit on the countertop and started munch on the snack.

For some reason, her mind traveled back to the morning when she had found Shikamaru in her house, just out of the shower, and with no shirt on. She mulled over her reaction, or rather, her overreaction. She'd come a long way from that, she realized. When she had woken up not five minutes ago and found Shikamaru asleep next to her, she hadn't done anything more than just stare at him. And not in a disgusted way.

She knew that if he had tried something like that a week ago, he probably would have been in the hospital by now.

But then again, he wasn't _trying_ anything, she reminded herself.

The _ding_ of the doorbell interrupted her thoughts. She set down the cracker box and wandered to the door. She then looked through the peephole and promptly groaned.

Oh, no. Not Sakura.

"Hi, Ino!" she said cheerfully when the door opened. Ino looked at her pink haired friend, unconvinced by her friendly greeting.

"What do you want?" Ino replied.

"Well, I'm fine, thank you. And how are you?" Sakura said with a big sarcastic smile. Ino scowled. "Being friendly to me once in a while won't kill you, you know," Sakura responded to Ino's scrunched up face.

Ino sighed. "I wouldn't know because I've never tried. So what do you want?"

Sakura then promptly elbowed her way past Ino into the house. Ino rolled her eyes and closed the door behind her. _So much for trying to be friendly._

"My mom wanted to thank your parents and...you, I guess, for helping with the flower arrangements for her party. They were a 'smash hit.'" Sakura held up her hands in quotation marks. Ino could see that she had a basket on one arm. It swung forward when she held up her hands. "So, she made you guys some cookies to enjoy," Sakura finished, handing Ino the basket. It was covered with a red-checkered cloth and the cloth was tied down with a matching red ribbon. How quaint.

"Oh, well tell her thanks. And thanks for delivering them," Ino said, taking the basket and putting it on the countertop behind her. They had traveled to next to the kitchen, which was a tad too far from the door for Ino's tastes. "She really shouldn't have made them, actually. I mean, you paid for the flowers and all."

"Yeah, that's what I tried telling her, believe me," Sakura reassured Ino. "But she insisted, and when she insists something, nothing can stop her…short of a life threatening fire, or something."

_Ha, what a funny analogy,_ Ino thought dryly and as if that was his cue, Shikamaru opened the door to her room and stepped outside, rubbing his eyes sleepily. His clothes were wrinkled and out of place and he looked more tired than before he took his nap. "Hey Ino, I'm…" Then he noticed Sakura and froze.

"Ino, isn't that your room?" Sakura asked, keeping her eyes on Shikamaru and pointing in his direction. Ino paused as well, her heart rate accelerating a little. Her eyes locked with Shikamaru's and she tried her best to communicate to him through her eyes to make up some sort of story as a quick cover up. The last thing Sakura needed to know was that they had taken a nap together.

"I couldn't get the earrings out from behind the dresser, sorry," he said suddenly, throwing up his hands in mock frustration.

Ino sighed in pretend exasperation. "It's a _necklace_, Shikamaru. And did you try moving the dresser away from the wall?"

"No," Shikamaru said, his signature bored look coming over his face.

"But that's what I needed your help for in the first place!"

"It was heavy," Shikamaru complained.

Ino placed a hand to her forehead and rubbed. "Why do I always get stuck with the useless boys?"

"Okay, well, I'll catch up with you later, okay Ino?" Sakura said hurriedly, probably able to sense an incoming tempest between Ino and Shikamaru. She patted Ino—almost sympathetically—on the arm. "I've gotta go."

"Bye, Sakura," Ino said, walking her to the door. Ino gave her one last final wave goodbye. "Thanks for the cookies!" she called after the pink-haired girl and then closed the door. She felt her heart beat start to slow as she leaned against the closed door and sighed deeply. That could have been a lost worse than it turned out.

"There's cookies?" Shikamaru questioned no one in particular. He walked past Ino and into the kitchen, in search of the food.

When Ino came in sight of the kitchen, Shikamaru was already munching on one, the cloth that was covering the basket knocked aside. The ribbon was lying limply beside it. Ino loved ribbons. She reached up, redoing and retightening her ponytail. Then she grabbed the ribbon from the counter and tied it into her hair. "Are they good?" she asked. Shikamaru simply nodded, taking another bite of his cookie. Ino reached into the basket for one herself.

"Thanks for lying to Sakura. I don't know what she would have done if…" Ino stopped, wondering how exactly to put it without making it sound like it really was scandalous. She took a bite of her cookie to buy her thinking time.

"…if she knew the truth, I know," Shikamaru finished for her. Ino nodded, giving him a small smile. He finished his cookie and gave the ceiling a sweeping glance. "Girls are so complicated."

"You have no idea," Ino agreed, taking a large bite of her cookie. She watched as Shikamaru swung himself over the back of the couch in the living room and reached for the TV remote. Then he sat down comfortably and clicked it on. "Are you actually going to watch this time?"

"I'll think about it," Shikamaru replied.

* * *

**A/N:**** Wow, so pretty much you have my permission to shoot me. (Well, unless you want this story to continue.) This update was way way overdue. I'm so so so sorry. But summer is coming around the corner, as probably all of you are acutely aware of, so I'll try to update more then and write more then. I already have more written of this story (but I couldn't figure out why this chapter was so ridiculously short, sorry). All I have to do is split them up into chapters and post them. I still can't get onto this website on my home's desktop computer, which is the one I usually use (but I'm working on that), so I have to still sneak onto my mom's laptop. It's going to seriously die soon... X.x**

**So anyway, I'm sorry for the long delay. I will try to be a better person from here on out. Mmkay? Thanks for reading and thank you to all my lovely reviewers that have been waiting patiently and dealing with my dilatory self. c:**

**Until next time! (Which won't be far away, I promise!)  
**


	6. Am I a rock or a rose or a fist?

-five-  
_Am I a rock or a rose or a fist? Or the breath at the end of a kiss?_

Ino was rocking out to her iPod in the living room when two things happened at the same time. It was the morning of the next day and, again, she had expected that no one would be up during her time of day. But, she had again been wrong.

She had just swung around in her dancing when Shikamaru turned the corner and then stopped short when he saw her, his face changing to an amused look. Immediately, Ino straightened up and fixed her hair awkwardly. _How embarrassing…_

And then the doorbell rang. It was so loud that Ino could hear it over her not too loud music.

She reached into her jacket pocket, turning off the iPod and then pulling the ear buds out of her ears as she exchanged a questioning look with Shikamaru. He walked toward the door and after stuffing her ear buds and the white cord into her pocket, she followed him.

When she reached the entryway, he was already swinging open the door. Two Konoha policemen were waiting outside. They peered inside the house, blinking curiously. Ino could feel her muscles tense up.

She knew for a fact that she hadn't done anything wrong. Shikamaru hadn't done anything wrong either, unless he had snuck out at night and robbed a store, or something. Maybe her parents had done something wrong? She scowled in spite of herself. If her father had done anything stupid yesterday…oh, he was gonna get it…

"Is this where the Naras are temporarily residing?" one policeman inquired tentatively.

Shikamaru crossed his arms over his chest. Ino noticed that he was fully dressed, which was smart on his part. She was still in her pajamas and now she was regretting it. "Yeah," Shikamaru said, in answer to the policeman's question. "I'm one of them."

"Is your father and mother here as well?"

Ino flinched for Shikamaru. That was such a bad question to ask. She glanced quickly at Shikamaru's back, trying to gauge his reaction. He hadn't moved, hadn't flinched, didn't seem to change at all in attitude. "My _father_ is asleep," he said carefully, "and I don't recommend waking him up. He sleeps like a log and if you wake him up before he's ready, he gets really angry."

"Ah, I see," the other policeman said, exchanging a glance with his partner. "Well, then, I guess it's all right if you just come with us."

"Why?" Shikamaru snapped at them. Ino could tell that he was suspicious even though his voice wasn't giving anything away. Ino studied the policemen carefully and realized the one that wasn't currently talking was looking at her inquisitively. She looked away, suddenly uncomfortable.

"We may have found the one responsible for burning your house down."

"Oh," Shikamaru commented, clearly surprised. No one had seen that coming. For the first time since the front door opened, he turned to look back at Ino. She was just as surprised at him and didn't know what exactly he was hoping to find by looking back at her. If it was advice or clarity, he wasn't going to get it from her at this moment. "Come on," he said to her, "let's go."

--

"I was trying to light a firecracker, okay?"

Ino and Shikamaru had followed the policemen into town (after Ino had raced into her room to throw on a robe to cover her slightly revealing sleep ware), and then to the station where they had met up with the suspected culprit. Which had ended up being Konoha's very own hyperactive ninja.

For some reason, Ino was not as surprised as she should have been.

"You were _trying_ to light a _firecracker_?" Shikamaru repeated, both his fists clenched. Ino could tell that he was trying very hard not to give Naruto the hardest punch to the face he could muster.

Naruto's face was the perfect picture of embarrassment, and it served him right. He was flushing to the roots of his hair. After a few minutes of questioning Naruto's motives and Naruto fumbling around for some mumbled lies, he finally had cracked and told the truth. And what a truth that had turned out to be.

"Yeah…" Naruto replied quietly to the floor, staring at his feet.

"Why the hell were you trying to light a firecracker?" Ino could tell that Shikamaru was very, very angry. But he was better than most at hiding it and he was doing so now, although his clenching and unclenching fists seemed to give a little away.

"Umm…" Naruto deliberated, looking harder at his shoes.

"Naruto…" Shikamaru said in warning, hinting at unpleasant things he could do to the orange clad ninja if he didn't respond promptly.

"I wanted to throw it into Sasuke's apartment, okay? Ya happy now?" Naruto growled unhappily and pouted at the floor, as if he had been the one that was jipped out of a house to live in.

"So why didn't you light it at Sasuke's apartment and burn _his_ building down?" Shikamaru questioned, his voice growing sarcastic. He didn't like Sasuke anyway, so it would have been an added bonus to watch his living quarters to go up in flames. Instead, Naruto here didn't think and missed his stupid target.

"Because lighting a firecracker makes too much noise and I was afraid of waking him up. I wanted it to be a complete surprise and since you lived near him, I happened to light it when passing by your house. So there!"

"Idiot, if you had been quicker, you could have just lighted it right there and thrown it into his apartment. Now wouldn't that be more effective?" Shikamaru pointed out, his voice edging toward a shout. He leaned in close to Naruto and narrowed his eyes at the ninja.

"Well, I wasn't quicker and that was what I decided to do, okay?" Naruto retorted, edging toward a shout himself.

"Well, that's your loss," Shikamaru shot back. "How did you ever become a genin, anyway? You're too incompetent…"

"HEY!" Naruto snapped, jumping to his feet. "Watch what you're saying, Shikamaru. Just because I burned your house down doesn't give you the right to judge my capabilities."

Shikamaru laughed sarcastically. "Oh yeah? Well, I think it does…"

"Well, all this bickering is lots of fun and everything," Ino interrupted both of them, giving Shikamaru a pointed glance to cut it out, "but maybe we should get things settled and try our best to move on with our lives, huh?"

"What is _she _doing here?" Naruto asked condescendingly, looking over at Ino with a distasteful look. Ino held back her rage and settled for shooting him a withering glare.

"Okay, so Shikamaru, what can Naruto do to make it up to you?"

Shikamaru snorted, crossing his arms over his chest. "I don't think he can."

Ino sighed. He could be so stubborn and annoying sometimes. "He can always try," she pointed out.

"Okay, then he should pay to rebuild my house."

"WHAT?" Naruto exclaimed, clearly not too thrilled with what Shikamaru had come up with. "I don't have that kind of money. What do you think I am? A money tree?" Ino had to agree with Naruto on this point. Shikamaru's demand was a little over the top.

"I have a better idea," Ino said before Shikamaru and Naruto could start yelling at each other again. "How about Naruto rebuilds your house?" she asked Shikamaru. Shikamaru's eyebrow immediately shot way up, but Naruto seemed to be mulling the question over.

"I don't think I trust him enough to have him build the structure that I will be living in, Ino," Shikamaru drawled. "What if the roof caves in or something?"

"Hey, I think it's a good idea," Naruto said, apparently done thinking it over. "Yeah, I think it's a great idea!" Naruto turned to Shikamaru with a big smile. "I'll rebuild your house!"

"No way. You are not going anywhere _near_ my house."

"Well, what do you propose he do then?" Ino asked Shikamaru, challenging him to find a better solution. He thought it over and then sighed. Ino knew from that that he had accepted her suggestion, even if it was possibly only because he didn't want to put much effort into thinking up a new plan.

"Fine, you'll build my house, but don't think I won't be watching you. I'll know if you've played any tricks." Shikamaru scowled malevolently at Naruto, but Naruto only grinned his signature goofy grin.

"I'll do a good job. I promise I will, Shikamaru!" he said, saluting the Konoha chunin. Shikamaru sighed and shook his head slowly at Naruto's impish behavior.

"Come on, Ino, let's go," Shikamaru said wearily, walking past her for the door.

--

"So it was Naruto who burnt the house down," Choji said in between mouthfuls of chips. "Figured."

"Seriously. He always seems to get himself in some sort of trouble." Ino sighed and looked up into the sky. Clouds drifted lazily across her field of view. She could see how Shikamaru liked this activity, doing nothing and staring up at the clouds. It was relaxing and probably good for the mind too, sweeping away everything she needed to worry about temporarily. The grass by her ear whispered unintelligibly as she realized that one cluster of the clouds she was looking at looked like a boar. A very big one.

"He's a cool kid, though. But his eating habits aren't the most admirable. Honestly, what is with the ramen three meals a day, everyday? Doesn't he know that other foods exist?"

"Probably not," Ino said, watching as another cluster of clouds near the boar formed a leaping deer. This was so cool. Cloud animals. She'd have to do this more often.

Choji tsked his disapproval. "I feel sick just thinking about eating all that ramen." _Crunch crunch crunch._

"Uh-huh. I totally agree." Ino, actually, had no idea what her teammate was saying. She was watching the current clash of the boar/deer. The clouds had drifted into each other and now were merging together. But she, trying to entertain her bored mind, decided to think of it as an epic battle. Currently, the boar was totally ravaging the deer.

"Where's Shikamaru, anyway? I've already gone through three bags of chips and I've only got one more left. He'd better show up before I run out of snacks, or else I'll be pissed."

_Oh yeah, that's what we're doing here. _They were waiting to meet Shikamaru so they could all go train together. But the sun was currently setting and he still wasn't there, so Ino had opted to watch clouds instead. Which was actually very, very fun. Especially since now the sky was slowly turning pink and the clouds were slowly turning golden because of it. Ino was just contemplating how pretty a dress of those colors would be when a body plopped down next to her on the grass. She turned her head. Shikamaru.

"Hey, Shikamaru!" Choji greeted enthusiastically. _Good thing Choji hadn't run out of snacks yet,_ Ino remarked silently.

Shikamaru was far less enthusiastic. In fact, he was the opposite of enthusiastic. He grunted in response to Choji's greeting in a way which made Ino think they probably weren't going to train today. She turned her head the other way, craning it to look over at Choji. They made eye contact and both nodded slightly. They were both thinking the same thing. Shikamaru was not in a good mood right now.

"What's up?" Ino ventured casually, turning back to look at the clouds. The boar/deer combo had turned into a horse rearing. Quite majestic, actually.

"Nothing," Shikamaru mumbled. He folded his hands back behind his head and exhaled slowly. Choji's crunching of chips started again, although at a slower and more thoughtful pace.

"How interesting," Ino remarked. The three fell into silence, just keeping each other company and watching the clouds.

Oh, and eating.

--

"Ew. I hate spinach." Which is what Ino's mother had lovingly prepared for them that night for dinner. Ino scrunched up her nose as she said this, shuffling into her room (in her fuzzy piggy slippers) and making a disgusted face. "I can still taste it. _Ew_, it's gross."

Shikamaru was sitting on her bed, up against the wall again. This was almost a familiar place and position now, although he wasn't about to admit it. He had one earphone in his left ear. The other was hanging from the cord, the white very noticeable against his plain black shirt. He looked up at his teammate who had changed into pajamas and just come back from the bathroom. "I thought you just brushed your teeth."

"I did," she said.

"Well, you must not have done a very good job, then."

She scowled. "Thanks." She grabbed the nearest thing near her—a plushie of a green frog with a crown on top of his head—and chucked it at him. He blocked it with his arms, and after it fell to the bed, he scooped it up and examined it, turning it around in his hands. It was old and worn, frayed at the seams at sections. Most likely, Ino had clutched this many times in the course of her life while trying to drift off to sleep. It looked ragged, but loved. _Rather be that than new and lonely,_ Shikamaru suddenly thought, still turning the frog over and over in his hands.

_Then again, now the frog is being used as a long-range projectile. _Shikamaru frowned slightly. _Eh, oh well._

"That stuffed animal is really interesting, isn't it?" Ino asked with a touch of sarcasm in her voice. Shikamaru looked up and found Ino smiling down at him playfully. He realized that he had been looking at the frog with the crown for quite a while. How embarrassing.

"Not really," he said, placing it down beside him, trying to recover from his lapse of apathy. Ino climbed onto the bed and sat next to him, taking the frog up into her own hands to examine the soft edges and faded colors.

"This used to be my best friend, you know," she suddenly said. Shikamaru looked over at her and saw that a small, faint smile was still playing across her lips, although it looked almost like residue. It remained from an earlier smile; Ino had forgotten about it. "I used to play with it all day long."

"But I thought Sakura was your best friend."

Ino nodded, placing the frog against her drawn-up knees and running her fingers over the crown with golden stitching. "She was, for sure. But this frog was still my favorite. Probably because although it couldn't talk to me when I talked to it, I could pretend that it would protect me from everything in the whole wide world." The frog slid down toward Ino's stomach and she kept looking at it as she spoke. "Everyone thought that I didn't need protecting. I was so tough and confident, teaching Sakura to do the same, standing up to the bullies for her, all of that. But I guess, as a little girl, I still wanted someone to protect me. I still needed it."

She held up the frog to the light and then placed it on top of her own head, smiling brightly. "I guess I was hoping it'd become my prince charming one day. Every little girl wants one of those. Gosh, we were all so foolish." She shook her head slightly, reaching up a hand to steady the wobbling frog prince.

_She's weak_, Shikamaru realized. Not weak in the sense that it was always used around them. Weak would usually stand for a lack in ninja abilities, a lack of skill, a lack of physical or mental strength. When he thought of Ino, he never really did think of those. But he never thought about the other weak either, the vulnerability that everyone had. Even he had. He had never cared to think about it, certainly not about Ino. She was always the foul-mouthed, loud and obnoxious but cheerful teammate. She was never quiet, never weak, never unprotected.

Except for the fact that she was.

"Great, awkward silence," Ino said, with a small smile. "Means I talked too much. Again." She sighed and leaned back, the frog still balanced on her blonde head. Shikamaru turned his head, looking at her profile. Her skin was a warm, healthy shade, almost glowing in the light of her bedroom. Her blonde hair was recently combed back into her regular ponytail. Her bright blue eyes shifted until they were looking directly at him.

"What?" she said, her smile fading, uncertainty changing her expression. "What's wrong?"

They were staring at each other, Shikamaru realized. At a closer range than they had ever been before. And she was simply beautiful.

Without thinking, Shikamaru leaned toward her and kissed her.

He had expected it to be short, a spontaneous action of his infatuation that actually wasn't supposed to happen. She would have pushed him back hastily, wiping her mouth and demanding an explanation, the familiar fire in her eyes coming back in full force. He would have hurriedly explained that it was nothing, that he wasn't thinking, that he was tired, or some other equally useless excuse. She would have shot back an insult, probably ending with a derogatory term and a venomous glare, maybe a punch if she was really angry. And then Shikamaru would have gotten up and left her room, feeling confused, angry at himself, and maybe even a little bit satisfied with his unusual display of courage if he allowed it.

But all of this that should have happened didn't. So, as a result of having planned two hundred steps ahead, when the situation changed, Shikamaru was struck dumb.

First of all, the kiss lasted for longer than he had planned for. And then, just as he was starting to think that maybe he should end it before it got out of his control, she started kissing him back. Which created a whole other dilemma. But the warmth spreading all through his body was too good to try and curb. Although he should have stopped, he didn't. He felt her cool hands slide up around his neck, counteracting the tingling warmth in his body and sending a shiver up his spine. She pulled him closer and he obeyed, arms slowly wrapping around her small waist.

Ino was the one that finally broke the kiss, leaving them both breathing a little quicker than before. She didn't really know what had just happened, or what it meant. For the moment, all she knew was that she liked it. She liked him. A lot.

She didn't look at his eyes while they both tried to force their breathing rates back to normal, trying to pretend like they weren't out of breath even though they obviously were. She loosed her grip on him, which was actually pretty tight, she realized with embarrassment. She kept her arms where they were, though, and his were still around her waist. Finally she built up her courage and looked into his eyes.

They looked at each other for a few seconds, not saying anything. Ino could see that his cheeks were slightly pinker than usual, and he looked very confused. And that made her smile. As soon as she smiled, the tension was relieved. "Hello," she whispered softly.

"Hi," he said back, smiling a little as well. Then, half-joking, half-serious, he added, "I'm not Sasuke."

That took Ino by surprise. She could tell that he actually meant what he said. His eyes were earnest and searching. So she smiled, and spoke the truth, something that came right from her unprotected heart. "I know. That's a good thing."

* * *

**A/N: Today, I decided to click on the link for this site expecting it to be blocked like always. But guess what? It worked! I was so excited. So I updated two of my stories. And this was one of them. This is kind of a long chapter I wrote a while ago (I've written more of this story, I just kind of have to find the extension...it's somewhere on some computer) but I still hope you readers enjoy it. I mean, it's FLUFF! How could you not (although it was hard writing it...)?**

**Thanks to all my avid reviewers! I love you all. I hope you liked this new one.**

**Until next time!**

**(Oh...silly NARUTO. c: )**

**P.S. The chapter title from last time was from "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol. LOVE THAT SONG.**

**P.P.S. I'm feeling like writing a bunch of drabbles for _ShikaIno_ (I don't know why, I just am), so I'd like you all to give me ideas! Go to my profile/bio thing and read the little edit part. There'll be more info there. Happy thinking and sending of ideas! c:**


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